Meeting proves useful

REDCROSS: In attendance were Paul Pearce, Therese Pedler, Anne Minion, Max Coulson, Kerry Schubert and at the back Ben Stobart.

Emergency and local community services from across the Eyre Peninsula met in Lock last Thursday to see how they could work together and respond in emergencies to be more prepared.

About 30 people attended the ‘Is Eyre Peninsula Disaster Ready?’ workshop at the Lock Football Club.

The aim of the day was to improve how organisations prepared for emergencies, identify opportunities to build resilience of clients and customers, and strengthen collaboration between community and emergency organisations.

CFS community engagement officer Theresa Pedler, who attended the workshop, said it was effective and she hoped it would become an annual event.

“It was a worthwhile initiative to round up all these community organisations and emergency services in the one place at the one time.

“We looked at possible emergency scenarios and it really helped us identify possible gaps in our responses and how to eliminate them in the future,” she said.

Ms Pedler also said the scenarios helped everyone attending better understand what each individual organisation did.

“These scenarios helped us identify potential situations on the Eyre Peninsula and also allowed us to become familiar with each other’s emergency response processes.”

Port Lincoln SES unit manager Max Coulson agreed with Ms Pedler and said the opportunity to network with the wider community and its organisations was beneficial.

“To network with the wider community and help put names to faces in these organisations is helpful for all of us.

“In the group work we all approached the scenarios differently.

“I had a local pastor in my group and a representative from a local boarding school so we looked at the situation differently,” he said.

“Pairing all of the different perspectives with the presentations and module work I think we all now better understand each other’s roles too.”

The workshop was held in partnership with CFS, MFS, SAPOL, SES, SA Ambulance and local councils.

Local representatives from schools, religious and health organisations also attended.